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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24739030">Y/n, Meet the Reader</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/valeriavionics/pseuds/valeriavionics'>valeriavionics</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>(Y/n), Meet the Reader. [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Undertale (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Additional Warnings Apply, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Drug Use, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Magic-Users, Multi, Multiverse, Other, Platonic Relationships, Reader Is Not Chara (Undertale), Reader Is Not Frisk (Undertale), Reader and Y/n are not the same person, Reader-Insert, You are reader, anti-harem, no beta we die like men, reader has no gender, updates weekly, y/n is female</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 03:46:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>18,351</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24739030</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/valeriavionics/pseuds/valeriavionics</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>You're not Y/n.</p>
<p>Your name is more than just two letters abbreviating two words separated by a slash mark.</p>
<p>However, you've always known your name has been irrelevant. You don't get to choose who you will be in this world. You don't get to chose who you are in any world. All the choices have been taken away from you and placed in the hands of someone whom you consider greater.</p>
<p>Your name is Reader.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A series of One-shots where you, Reader, are the intruder of a regular, harem situation story of your alternate self. Watch how you'd react depending on the universe you come from!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Everyone/Reader, Papyrus (Multiverse)/Reader, Papyrus (Undertale)/Reader, Sans (Multiverse)/Reader, Sans (Undertale)/Reader, Sans/Reader, Y/n/Everyone</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>(Y/n), Meet the Reader. [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1298426</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>196</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello there! This is my first series, so please keep in mind that some of these chapters were written months ago and my writing skills are still growing.<br/>Each chapter will have a second part depending on the story length.<br/>Enjoy &gt;v&gt;</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> Your name is Y/n, you were average college student who’d recently moved out of their parents house to start life of their own; heading into independence.</p><p> Average height, average hair, average life, average in every sense of the word and in every possible way.</p><p> Like most college students who are soon indebted and submerged under the constant glare of student loans and pressured into a job that was threatening to end your sanity, you decided you couldn't pay rent, feed your cat and yourself all on your own.</p><p> So you began looking for a roommate who asked for a reasonable amount of money, who tolerated noises in the morning, could live with a cat, and didn't mind sharing a bathroom. The first weeks searching were unsuccessful; most of the accessible apartments near your campus were taken by people with the same idea as you. After a few days browsing, by one mean or another, you found the perfect opportunity.</p><p> Let it be through a random internet website, the local newspaper, or just a poster outside your favorite cafe, there it was, the perfect price at the perfect location. Praying it wasn't a scam or some creep trap, you contacted the owner of said advertisement right away, first by text, and once you confirmed their credibility, by call.</p><p> The first thing you noticed was how deep their voice was, like you were very well talking to the embodiment of a sleepy, cloudy day. You kind of liked it, in a relaxing, hypnotizing manner, and they certainly were not rude in any sort of way that could make you like them any less.</p><p> Because that is completely normal of you. </p><p> You agreed to meet a few days later after your classes, just squeezing in between the time between college and work, which worked well for both of you. You showed up, and you were surprised the address given to you had brought you sorry ass to a conveniently huge, well maintained house that was both in the middle of nowhere and close to campus. Strange, but in a weird way that was almost inappropriate to question.</p><p> You knocked on the door after you were done gawking, and were greeted by an unexpected character.</p><p> A skeleton. A very short, stout skeleton that went by the name of "Sans". You were surprised, because your mental image of a hot thunder god was reduced to this comical skeleton that resembled an egg. Regardless, you instantly turned on your inner friendly neighborhood human mode, because you had to act like an angel to this monster or else he'd hate you and kick you out of the house before you could even settle in. </p><p> You didn't hate monsters. That would probably be as bad as hating or judging someone for the color of their skin, but you knew there were humans that behaved less than friendly towards monsters. Protests and hate crimes were basically what monsters were exposed to long before getting to know the beautiful, empathic side that humanity could offer.</p><p> It was rare, but there had been monsters you've encountered in the past who'd seen enough to cross the street while you're out on a walk. Of course, not all monsters were like that, you just happened to associate the level of sensitivity of everyone with the one of every other entitled human you've met. You were so scared of offending him that he just started laughing at your anxiety and told you to relax.</p><p> You learned Sans lived alone after talking in depth, he explained that his brother had moved out recently and he was left with the house, with too much space to take care of by himself. It had been originally a home to house every family from regional areas Underground, but they had all moved out after the government gave them the green light. He worked from home and didn't mind having a roommate as long as certain boundaries were met and they could clean after themselves, which you wholeheartedly agreed to.</p><p> This skeleton was a lover of cringe-worthy puns that he absolutely kept throwing at you. You hated them, forced yourself to laugh, yet he seemed look right into you and didn't let that stop him. In fact, it only seemed to spur him on. He told you about the periodic visits his brother liked to drop in every once in a while, but other than that, you wouldn't be disturbed.</p><p> The price was perfect, and the fact that you wouldn't even need see him most of the day worked even better for you, so you agreed.</p><p> You moved with him two weeks later, and despite being a bit awkward and messy, you made due. Sure, it got annoying to be his <em>mom</em> and pick after his trash in the living room- all over the house, in fact-, and yes you thought he could use a full disinfectant bath, but it was all worth it after he started to warm up to you, inviting you to hangouts and whatnot.</p><p> You bonded pretty quickly; Sans was a great listener and you were a college student with a lot to tell, and soon you became two chill friends. Occasionally, you had your moments, your fights, your silent treatments, and teasing that went too far, gaining weird looks from your and his friends that you pretended to be clueless of. You liked to think it was all part of your dynamic with Sans. To you, it was just...you and that stinky skeleton that was too lazy to tie shoelaces.</p><p> You liked to think Sans thought the same, from what you could tell. As reserved and private he kept his work life, he was actually pretty good at helping with home assignments when you asked for help. And you...you were a funny human.</p><p> You were co-existing, and it was cool.</p><p> One night, though, you woke up to the sound of the windows shaking and the house making loud, mildly threatening sounds. It was pitch black in the middle of the night, and when Sans didn't respond to your call of distress, you jumped out of bed, under the alarmed impression it was an earthquake. And then, smoke, smoke was filtering through the ventilation everywhere and you were convinced you left the oven on and it caused a gas leak now the house was on fire. You flew downstairs and down the small flight to the basement where you <em>knew you weren't allowed in</em>, and were confronted with an unlikely sight.</p><p> Right there, looking like they were thrown down a chimney, were two soot-covered skeletons, seeming to be just as perplexed as you were. They were clad in all black and red and as cliché as it sounded, they <em>did</em> look like they just walked out of a flaming Hot Topic store. It took them seconds to get to your bad side when they tried to attack you for your soul- or something about you being a threat to their very lives, getting all over your business faster than you could react.</p><p> Sans tried to placate everyone by explaining the situation; his work orbited around a machine capable of transdimensional traveling, yet it was heavily flawed because of his unfinished blueprints. In all the time you knew this man, you thought he was just very smart and capable around difficult subjects- not a full <em>bred nerd!</em></p><p> Albeit nervously, he assured you that he would fix it and return the extra skeletons back to their timelines, and you believed him.</p><p>...Three months later, there was a total of ten skeletons whom were pulled out of their home timelines, and Sans was not able to fix his big mistake. Life was messy again and often hostile with the rougher versions of your friend, posturing anything with two legs and an equally bad attitude. By the time you graduated, you were already hands deep in gear grease trying to help Sans out the best you could.</p><p> Convenience stepped in.</p><p> You studied a couple of engineering courses after all your concentration classes were completed, which was very helpful for your situation. While the others focused on studying the quantum physics equations involved on the machine, you worked on actually making them physical. It was way too imbalanced and rough, yet somehow you were able to meet all deadlines just in time.</p><p> One day, after five more months of work, Sans gave the Ok to test the machine officially, everything was set and reverted correctly; finally, the multiple versions of him would be able to return home. It left a bittersweet feeling on everyone after getting attached with multiple happenings, but you knew that their timelines would stay dormant without them.</p><p> Everyone was gathered on the basement, the air was thick and hot with everyone's excitement and anticipation, waiting for the engine to warm up so the final goodbyes could be made.</p><p> Sans looked at you as you held your hand over the button that would change everything back to normal, and you nodded back, ready as you would ever be.</p><p> That was the moment everyone worked so hard for.</p><p> In that moment, your soul was beating in sync with everybody else's, and you threw them your best, encouraging, farewell smile. They smile back, the void smiles back at them.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>You're not Y/n.</p><p>Your name is more than just two letters abbreviating two words separated by a slash mark.</p><p> However, you've always known your name has been irrelevant. You don't get to choose who you will be in this world. You don't get to chose who you are in any world. All the choices have been taken away from you and placed in the hands of someone whom you consider greater.</p><p> Your name is Reader.</p><p> You had a normal life until that day, that one unexpected, crazy day that flipped your life upside down.</p><p> Average height, average hair, average life, average in every sense of the word and in every possible way.</p><p> You didn't ask for this, you didn't ask to become different; you didn't ask you be the weird one of the story- you never <em>asked</em> to be part of the story.</p><p> Yet life has a way to put unimportant people on the spotlight.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Y/n, Meet Your Edgy 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>In which you are the edgy version of yourself!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> The first thing that you feel is pain.</p><p> Pain all the way from your head to your ass like you’d sat on a cactus, upsetting nerves and eliciting a groan from you.</p><p> You try to open your eyes to scan your surroundings, but they are crusty from sleep and watery from the attack to your nervous system. As you raise your hands to wipe those away, your memory fails to explain how you ended up in this cold, hard ground when the last thing you remember is getting home after work. There are no recalls of drinking or drugging that justify your situation, yet there's still the pounding in your head that suggests you received a good hit.</p><p> Were you robbed? Robbed and then kidnapped?</p><p> You groan louder, more coherently and slowly roll onto your back, wiping the dirt and eye dust from your face as you stare up to a very unfamiliar ceiling.</p><p> It's very dark in there, but even so you can tell this is not your ceiling; you had a popcorn ceiling, this one is just bare cement with less than tasteful light bulbs, which were blown recently judging by the glass stabbing your arms and back. </p><p> Unsettled and knowing you weren't safe, you shakily force yourself to sit up, spitting out dust bunnies and tiny pieces of debris.</p><p>"sh-shit! look at whatcha did!" a rather throaty, alarmed male voice shrieks amongst the smoke. Another meeker, pitcher voice replies with equal amounts of energy, both startle you into wildly swatting at the suspended carbon in the air.</p><p>"What <em>I</em> did? If you hadn't moved me it would've been fine!"</p><p>"ya shouldn't have been here inna first place!!"</p><p> You panic, realization as well as your self-preservation hitting your gut within a cold instant, like an anxiety vice coiling around your stomach. None of the voices are even remotely familiar to you, neither did your new settings, smells, or colors. Either you weren't in your apartment, or something terrible happened to it.</p><p> Pain shoots up your right leg as the two voices continue to banter, forcing a pained cry from your mouth that immediately cuts off whatever lecture they are giving each other. Without much light to see with, you can only distinguish two vague figures slowly making their way through the smoke, that soft shuffle of shoes on concrete setting your nerves on edge as you prepare for the worse.</p><p> You are met by an implausible scene.</p><p> There is a woman that, for a lack of a better way to describe her, could pass as your fucking twin.</p><p> Even in the dark, cold place this is, she manages to keep herself clean from soot and uncluttered, all the while being astonishingly beautiful. She is probably a couple of pounds heavier, and her skin looks as soft as her hair and fuck, you swear her eyes glow in the dark or some shit. That was <em>not</em> natural. </p><p>  She might be very well a deity coming to carry you off to a place you don't deserve to be.</p><p> The other figure, however, couldn't be more different. Shorter than the woman currently squatting down to your current level, it’s wide and has a huge head, no visible hair and you're sure that midst the smoke, there are two red light boring holes into your soul. </p><p> But the starkest part of its body is the lack of the principal organ; skin. It doesn't have any skin.</p><p> This is a skeleton.</p><p> A skeleton <em>monster</em>. </p><p> You move faster than you've ever done in your life, legs kicking back in a hurried back padding until your head meets the edge of a desk, sending your neck forward in a painful strain.</p><p>"Fuck!"</p><p>"fuck!"</p><p> You try to stand up and defend yourself from the very obvious threat in the room, yet only succeed in banging your head again on the desk, resulting into a trail of curses leaving you as you stumble up. There is no limits at how much you can hurt yourself apparently, because as soon as you manage to get up, glass shards stab your naked feet, and you scream; in both frustration and pain.</p><p> In a frenzy you protect yourself, you grab the first thing that comes to contact with your hand; a thick binder full of messily stuffed papers that you hold onto for dear life, retreating on your heels until your back is safely pressed against the wall.</p><p>"Who are you people!? How'd you get here? I'll kill you!", you yell as bravely as you can, raising your weapon of choice threateningly over your head, "I swear to god I'll dust you!"</p><p> The response to the aggressive display is immediate, the monster postures in front of your lookalike in a defensive manner, and in turn, she hides behind it, eyes wide as plates and hands fisting its black parka. </p><p>"chill, ya fuckin' psycho! put that down 'n act like a normal person!" The monster says in a hysterical timbre, completely unlike the one he used to argue with the woman, and it could've made you laugh if it weren't for your situation.</p><p>"I don't have to listen to anything ya say, monster! You all fucking lie!" You scream back at it, gagging in the darkness as you feel liquid pool underneath your feet, the sound of grinding glass muted but present.</p><p> Before the monster can reply and attempt to move, a door swings open from above, light flooding the room and making you hiss as your retinas are burned in the most harmless way. Your grip on the binder becomes so tight it cuts the blood flow to your fingers, your body is in a state of fight or flight and you're certain your feet are 30% glass now, so it's perfectly natural for you to act accordingly to your instincts.</p><p> Blindly throwing your weapon to the general direction of the light, you stumble back from the sheer force and weight of it, letting out another ungracious curse fly out your mouth as cold, hard floor welcomed you once more. In a second everything seems to be moving too fast- the thump of your attack hitting something never comes, someone yells out a complaint about of dark it is, and the next thing you know, there's blinding light glaring at you straight in the face.</p><p>"What the hell man! Don't flash that shit on my eyes, you're going to blind me!" You shriek out in fury, shielding your sensitive retinas from the intrusive light. A much pitcher, louder, male voice that you were yet to be familiar with squeaks out an apology, before you are hastily pulled back on your stinging feet by a forceful pull on your arms.</p><p>"MY APOLOGIES Y/N! I COULDN'T TELL IT WAS YOU IN THE DARK, ARE YOU ALRIGHT, YOU LOOK PRETTY BANGED UP!", that voice is so loud inside the room that you practically feel the headache bouncing inside your skull, "OH DEAR, YOU'RE BAREFOOT! THERE'S GLASS ON THE FL-"</p><p> You yank your arms away from that iron-like hold before they can finish their sentence. The room spins for a few seconds at the violent action, before your eyes adjust to the new source of light, and suddenly, there are multiple dots in pairs that look straight at your paled face.</p><p>More skeletons, more <em>monsters</em>. You are trapped in by skeleton monsters.</p><p> Your shoulders sag, your posture deflates and all the fight in you mellows into passive caution. You know you're in a delicate situation, you know and can recognize when you've been surrounded; fighting now reduced your probabilities of survival.</p><p> Monsters are dangerous, unpredictable things, and more often than not, they're smarter than humans. You're better off not fighting and risk getting mauled before you can even escape.</p><p>"MWEH?!? THAT'S NOT Y/N!", the skeleton of blue eyes...lack of, exclaims in scandalized horror, retreating to the safety of the group as it pointed the flashlight at your face again, "MISS Y/N WOULD NEVER DRESS LIKE A VERSION OF RED!"</p><p>It's still dark, maybe if you attack with a bigger object you could get them to move out of the way? There are at least five more skeletons near the door- it would have to be something heavy as well.</p><p>"I I'm right here, Blue! Don't get near them, and please find new light bulbs- these ones blew up." </p><p>"Hey! Don't talk like I'm not here! What the fuck is going on? Who are you people?! Whatdaya want from me?!", you demand with energy as the skeleton who'd literally flashed you seconds ago gave your doppelganger an enthusiastic affirmation before bolting up the small flight of stairs, "Don't ignore me, ya dick!"</p><p> Said girl rushes from behind her living shield to come to your aid- or so she intended, because as soon as she gets too close, you swing your fist at her face with a shout evoking war. She is yanked back before your punch can make contact, unfortunately, and your entire body is overtaken with weight that doesn't belong to you, but to a bigger body that is stepping into your stomach. </p><p> It's a skeleton who, like that edgy mothefucker from before, is clad in blacks and reds, but in the form of pajamas. You can almost laugh at the ridiculous polka dot patter on the fabric, but your breath is taken away by this monster digging its heel on your gut, making you snarl and grasp his ankle defiantly, trying to throw it off.</p><p> You only succeed in making it press more force down to you, and you cry out in pain and anger.</p><p>"Edge! Stop that, they're confused and scared, do not hurt them!" The woman cries out pleadingly, to which you and the skeleton snort at.</p><p> You aren't scared, you are PISSED.</p><p>"I'd listen to her if I were you", you wheeze out in ragged breaths, "Cause' my intent's pretty high r right now."</p><p> "Silence, Pathetic Worm! One More Word And I Will Crush Your Inner Sternum Like A Bunch Of Sticks!" The nasal, rather irritating voice of the monster replies back in a snarl, increasing the pressure on your chest until you are coughing and fighting for each breath.</p><p> The alarm on the girl's voice is as hilarious as it is irritating.</p><p>"Out! Everyone out, except Sans! You're all being too hostile and making this more hard than it has to!", she demands quickly, urgent anger seething from her tone as she directs word towards the small group. And when they start to complain and take too long to comply, she sharply points towards the door, "I said <em>out!</em>"</p><p> Reluctantly, the monsters turn to leave, few shooting dirty and untrusting glances your way, the skeleton that pinned your sorry form getting off of you, allowing your lungs to take greedy gulps of air as you sit up. Once they all leave, only three people remain in the room; the girl, a skeleton dressed in mismatched pajamas and your ungracious self.</p><p> The girl squats to your level on the floor, hands held out in an offering of peace even as you narrow your eyes in warning, silently pointing towards your feet.</p><p>"Listen, I'm not going to hurt you, but if you try to attack me, Sans will use magic to keep you still, or we'll have to sedate you. Do you want that?", she asks with her patience clearly thin after that exciting exchange, and now you can appreciate her straightforwardness.</p><p> Shaking your head, you agree to the terms- after all, there's no way to escape now that too many people are aware of your existence, and the monster in the room is, while not that big of an obstacle, a very annoying inconvenience.</p><p>"Great, now, let me help you sit on the bed so we can take care of that glass, okay?"</p><p>"Okay doc."</p><p> Soon, you're sitting on a hospital-esque bed and your twin is kneeling before your feet with tweezers, pulling out the tiny shards of glass from them as the monster she has referred to as "Sans" clicks away on a computer. From the corner of your eye, you can see him raising his gaze over you, scanning, observing you so you don't do anything suspicious. It's uncomfortable, but you are finding it easier making time pass by remaining silent.</p><p>"So I'm guessing you're pretty confused, huh? I'm sorry, I didn't know that my presence could affect the results of multidimensional traveling- let me explain!" She starts as she bandages your dangling feet after being done cleaning the wounds and you scoff derisively.</p><p>"By all means, I'm just dying to know." You sass back, and by the roll of her eyes, she's not amused by it.</p><p>"Okay, I'll spare you the details of the machine and tell you what is happening-".</p><p>"Never wanted anything more than that."</p><p>"...Sans' machine dragged you in here by code association, or DNA if you will. The same happened to all the skeletons you saw earlier, they're alternate versions my- the Sans and his brother Papyrus of this world. Are you following?" She asks, finishing up with your feet, and standing up to wash her hands off.</p><p>"I guess."</p><p>"Unfortunately it means you'll be stuck in this universe until we can adjust the mechanism to stop sucking people in. The time is indefinite, but don't worry, your reality is frozen without you, no one will notice you're gone."</p><p> Her reassurance does nothing to calm you, especially her little fun fact at the end. There are several things wrong with staying in a house full of backstabbing monsters for hell knows how long, and you don't plan meeting any of those possibilities.</p><p>"What if it takes months, or years to fix the machine? I can't go back there looking ten years older and expect people not to notice! Just because they had been frozen doesn't mean they're dumb." You hiss as you jump from the bed, feeling the bandages invade your comfort in walking.</p><p>"this hadn't been a problem until now, (y/n)", the skeleton suddenly pipes in, pausing his tapping on the computer to look at the woman, "with the others it's easy, but with a human we have to move fast or else the course of their timeline could be affected."</p><p>"This all sounds like a you problem. Maybe if ya hadn't touched the damn thing inna first place, you wouldn't have fucked up." You sneer at both of them, pacing back and forth to test out your mobility, but otherwise focus on the conversation.</p><p>"Listen, I'm sorry, okay? You can stay here while we work on it, you'll have your own room and-"</p><p>You don't even let her finish, and you inwardly wonder for how long you can keep interrupting her until she snaps, "You want me to live with <em>monsters?</em> Are you out of your mind?"</p><p>"ya gotta problem with monsters, kid?" Sans, not having resumed with his typing, raises a his voice in accusation, and you instinctively go defensive.</p><p>"Only when they kill humans for kicks, monster." </p><p> The skeleton looks like he was about to retort with much more will to argue, but is regrettably cut off by your pacemaker by raising her hand at him in a "let me handle it manner".</p><p>"Your timeline might be like that...uh..."</p><p>"Y/n", you answer the unspoken question dryly, glaring challengingly "My name is Y/n, and no, a nickname is not up to negotiation."</p><p> She has the dignity to look embarrassed, before continuing with her previous line of thought, "Your timeline might be like that, a lot of the current residents come from violent universes- which facts I hope you can use to get along with them- but this place isn't the same. There are strict laws against violence against either species and no one in this house, including yourself, is going to break them, capiche?"</p><p>"Oh sure, we'll get along just fine, I can already see how our conversation about murder and violence will strengthen our bonds, so realistic.", your face is in a deadpan, "Maybe that'll make them not want to kill me, if I tell them about my Sad sob story, that is."</p><p> "geez kid", Sans groans in complaint, and you take pride in the way leans over his desk and rubs his temples in irritation like Customer Service employee with too much on his plate, "do ya have to antagonize everything you're told?"</p><p> You smile condescendingly. Oh, <em>he had no idea</em>.</p><p>"I dunno, do ya have to state the obvious?"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Meet Your Edgy 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>In which you yell and get yelled at, a lot!</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I got impatient so you get this one day earlier haha.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> You've been living with the mass of skeletons for a couple of weeks now, and if there's a word to summarize the whole experience, it would be "hostile".</p><p> The first two hours being a permanent resident in the house had been so tense and full of snide from your part that you managed getting into more yelling matches than you can count. Most of them were with the more "normal" looking monsters, red clad and dark looking, while the others were reduced to being pacemakers.</p><p> As "Sans" commented earlier that night, you antagonized every rule they had lectured you, mostly out of spite, but you were also very outraged at the restrictions they implemented. What they didn't make in bulk, they compensated in seriousness, leaving only five general rules everyone had to follow.</p><p> Rule #1: No fighting in the house.</p><p> Ruler #2: Don't go inside other's room without permission.</p><p> Rule #3: Clean after yourself.</p><p> Rule #4: Don't make too much noise.</p><p> But the most irritating of them all, the final rule, was the cause of many fights, because it was so restrictive and invasive that even your alternate self was protesting against it.</p><p>Rule #5: You're not allowed outside the house after you went through probation.</p><p> The leader, or at least that's what Sans represented in the house, assured you that everyone went through it at first, that it would only be temporary. He was calm and reasonable during his explanation, and had most of the residents agreeing with him in that aspect, especially considering the violent streak you showed upon arrival.</p><p> You on the other hand, were <em>livid</em>. Not only they had kidnapped you from your home, but now they were forcing you to stay in a place where humans were a minority. Your screaming across the table had instantly raised a massive quarrel; with you trying to defend yourself by arguing you'd die of anxiety, and the monsters, who overthrew you in numbers, counterattacked by voicing their own distrust towards humans.</p><p> It all ended quickly when you, in a moment of rage, flipped the table over to the skeleton in charge, deathly silence following suit, and then Sans said there was a magical barrier around the house. Even if you tried to, you wouldn't be able to escape without him knowing.</p><p> And that brought you transform into your final form, watching television and eating potato chisps, littering around the house out of ill will for the other rules. It doesn't matter to you anymore, you basically and technically broke all the rules in the single night you were brought here. You already picked a fight, you practically invaded their workplace thanks to the machine, you were purposely a slob and your screaming matches with your new roommates could wake up the dead.</p><p> You are just missing one rule.</p><p> The nature of magical barrier around the house itself was a mystery to you, since Sans didn't explain further about it. All you could relate it to was the Barrier that kept monsters underground, but knowing it was done by powerful human mages, and that humans were stronger than monsters, you doubted it could actually stop you. </p><p> In the morning of your appearance, you tried to sneak out when everyone went to sleep, thinking that they would know as soon as you stepped foot outside a door, window, etc. Imagine your surprise when not only you managed to slip out unnoticed, but ran so far down the dirt road that you could see a near town downhill and your hope bloomed like a prosperous Spring day.</p><p> The next second you had a very tired looking Sans and Stretch blocking your way and forcing you to turn back.</p><p> He had meant the perimeter around the house, not the house itself. You could go outside and get your sun vitamins and fresh air, but you couldn't go down town without alerting them. You tried more than once and discovered the woods were not a viable escape route either. As it turns out, these skeletons do not need to run.</p><p> So you are waiting, waiting for this first month to pass to be allowed outside like a normal person. In the meantime, you dedicate yourself to watch and learn, learn about these monsters’ behavior and learn about their affections orbiting around your other self.</p><p>(Y/n), but you call her "Miss".</p><p> You tried to defend your name, the right to be called it instead of a nickname like all the other skeletons had accepted, but no matter what arguments you presented, they firmly went along a new nickname. You could tell that these monsters had it bad for her, and you even feel a little sorry for her and how time-consuming these skeletons were.</p><p> Anyways.</p><p> They nicknamed you "Reader".</p><p> You're in the process of learning about this new world from a trusty website when you're called out for dinner downstairs. By the sound of it, it was Papyrus, Sans' brother and basically one of the most workaholic and germophobic people you've had the displeasure to meet. Out of the many monsters living in this place, you quickly found out you disfavored some more than others. Papyrus was one of them, along the other versions of him that seem to love getting up on your business.</p><p> Once you take a quick journey to wash your hands, you go directly to the kitchen to retrieve your food for tonight. Papyrus, in charge of the cooking today, greets you, but you instinctively tune him out as you grab a plate and utensils to serve yourself. You usually avoid sitting with the others to socialize, but you know you're about to as Miss's head pops by the door, looking set on a mission.</p><p>"Reader, come eat with us tonight please" She says kindly, yet with a firm and more suggestive tone. Besides you, Papyrus takes the moment to slip past you and to the dining room before you can protest, and you cuss softly under your breath.</p><p>"I'm not interested in fraternizing with any of you", you hiss in frustration, following the sneaky skeleton out, and only stopping to look at Miss with a glower, "I want to eat by myself."</p><p>"I know you like your space, but we are going to talk about the machine over dinner and you deserve to be there and participate", she reasons, hands wringing together like she is making a prayer, "Please?"</p><p> You scowl at her and her damn stupid puppy eyes, but your attention is ultimately captured by the machine talk anyways, so you nod, ignore her bright smile and silently follow her to the table. </p><p> Everyone is already gathered and seated, and you're not surprised to see Blue and Stretch calling dibs on sitting besides Miss. It seems like everyone had a silent agreement to just sit next to their real sibling and leave it like that. Unfortunately that meant the only available chair was on the far corner next to G.</p><p> Not the best, but not the worst either, so you take it. The yellow eyed skeleton hasn't bothered you, and you don't bother him, so you prefer to wait for Papyrus to serve today's poison rather than initiate small talk with him.</p><p> Once you have a plate full of sludge you identify as spaghetti, you unenthusiastically start playing with it, twisting it on your fork just to drop it back down. You know from personal experience that Papyrus is a <em>horrible</em> cook, days and nights spent in the bathroom throwing up his latest creations being your witnesses. If you were to be in your room, you could just throw it outside your window and forget about it, but you don't have the luxury now.</p><p> A quick look around the room has you smiling maliciously as everyone appears to have the same thoughts as you, yet more than a few are feeling suicidal and munch on the burnt- yet somehow undercooked noodles without much of a fuzz. It's amazing to see a small group of people collectively assassinate their (lack of?) taste buds.</p><p>"So now that we're all here!", Miss starts with a criminally calm voice despite the horrors presented as dinner, "We should talk about the progress made with the machine, and the new engine we're building."</p><p> One of the Papyrus lookalikes, Slim, or Mutt, or Pup, whatever name he gets called by, makes a sound of affirmation, "Ya need new valves 'n pistons, 'n they don't make those 'n this 'r any universe, toots."</p><p>"he's right, but we can order a couple of them and see if we can modify them to fit", Sans interjects, food in his plate partially gone by some work of magic.</p><p>"That's what I was thinking, if there's a chance we don't have to make them ourselves and just fix up preexisting pieces, it would save us a lot of time." Miss says with a smile, semi dark circles under her eyes giving away how hard she must be pushing herself to work. </p><p> You remain unimpressed, and give up on trying eating this disgusting glob of ruined food.</p><p>"So what, are you going to be able to fix the machine soon or not?" You voice your thoughts with the most laid back tone you can muster, attracting the attention of some people eating (or pretending to.)</p><p>"I mean, yeah, if everything goes smoothly and we can actually upgrade the engine, then yes", Miss answers for everyone, "After that we can start the preliminary tests."</p><p>"How long is this going to take, exactly?" You interrupt whoever was going to speak next with urgency, wanting your facts now.</p><p> Naturally, Sans replies with, "if we count the shipping, manufacturability, assembly and testing, i would say...bout five months? maybe more if it doesn't work out."</p><p> You gape at them incredulously, eyes wide and disbelieving, mouth  dry and just waiting to spit out a chain of insults.</p><p>"Five months?! Are you fuckin' kidding me? You expect me to wait "maybe" half a year to return home?", you protest with a shrill tone, ignoring Papyrus' and Blue's scolding "LANGUAGE!", before pointing your fork accusingly at the skeleton in charge. To your outmost annoyance, he looks as calm as ever, and his plate is completely empty. </p><p> He's temporarily distracted from your rage by Miss interfering.</p><p>"I know it's not ideal but we can't rush this, it could jeopardize the entire project."</p><p> You are fuming through your ears, throwing the fork into your plate with such energy that it spills sauce to the table.</p><p>"To hell with yer dumb ass shit project! What about my home? My life! Those things are in jeopardy too!!"</p><p> Sans stands up, like he'd been already expecting this, while the rest of the table goes deadly silent.</p><p>"calm down, you're not the only one that hasn't been able to get back home and you know it."</p><p> In turn, you stand up so fast that your chair gets knocked down and the table rattles, eyes blaring pure hatred and malicious intent to hurt something- preferably Sans's skull.</p><p>"I don't give a shit about everyone else!", you scream at him from across the table, and he visibly starts sweating when your hand gets a hold of the now messy fork, "I'm not going to wait six months to see my fuckin' cat, Sans!"</p><p>"Reader, I know it's too much to ask from you-", Miss tries to appease you, but you're burning up, you're seeing black splotches in your vision and you're shaking uncontrollably; you are not going to listen.</p><p>"You don't know <em>shit</em> about what you're asking me to do! You live here, all nice and comfortable, so you don't get what you've done!", you throw your fork  at her, but like the book, it never made contact and it never landed, "This is your fault!! If you hadn't played around with things you don't understand, none of us would be here!"</p><p> Someone on the side makes an affirmative noise, but you don't bother checking who it was. In your universe, having a temper like this could define the line between survival and death, so you have to focus.</p><p>"kid, we know we messed up, ya don't need to remind us", surprisingly, it was Sans who venomously replies, but not yelling, never yelling, "we're tryin' our best here, and you're not helping by throwing tantrums like these and make everything more stressful."</p><p>"I'm making this stressful? I'm sorry, were you ripped away from your life too?"</p><p>"you have shelter here.", Sans doesn't let up, "you have a roof over your head, you have clothes, you're safe, you have food-"</p><p>"THE FOOD IS DISGUSTING HERE!", you finally snap at all of them, grabbing your plate of pasta and shaking it at everyone's direction like it was a disgrace upon this Earth and every other, "Look at this! Every time one of you cooks it's like you made a pact with the devil! Why hasn't anyone said anything?!"</p><p> There are multiple protests and snarls around the table, more of skeletons protesting about your awful taste and the others growling about how you "don't get to talk about their bro's cooking without consequences." You scream incoherently at them as your voice is drowned out by the other's.</p><p>"I hate it here!"</p><p>"You're not getting back home!" A shrill, definitely female voice yelled out above the ruckus, making everyone, including yourself, to immediately shut up.</p><p>"What."</p><p>"Some of these guys have been here for years! Stretch and Blue came two years ago, Slim and Black a year ago.", Miss is breathing just as hard as you are, eyes alight with her own paradise of anger and determination, "We don't know how long it'll take, but just because it's hard for you doesn't mean it's not hard for the rest of us!"</p><p> ...Your shoulders sag, your hot, furious expression melts, your fists unclench, and a wave of cold sensation runs down your back at the sudden awakening. It's like your body is completely overtaken with dread and hopelessness, like a wet blanket dropped over your shoulder in the Arctic.</p><p> You're not going back soon, you're not going back in a long time. You won't be able to see your cat, the little people you can call friends, in a very long time. You won't be able to age on your own universe in a long time. <em>You won't be able to have a life in your own universe in a long time</em>.</p><p> The plate in your hands drops out of your grip faster than you can react, the wet splat of spaghetti hitting the floor before the dull <em>thunk</em> of the dish followed. Then, on its own accord, your body turns around to move out the dining room, Miss's call completely going over your head as you made way to the front door, dissociated and helium-headed.</p><p> No one makes a move you stop you, so you don't; closing the door behind you and looking forward to the sea of forest surrounding the house. You feel empty, you feel cold, indifferent, angry, stupid, used, and so, <em>so naïve.</em></p><p>Grabbing the railing of the front porch, you take a deep breath. And then another, and again, over and over until you can feel pain in your hands, the splinters digging on the skin.</p><p> You weren't getting out of here. You are stuck living in constant anxiety of getting attacked, in a house where you were locked in, where you don't have anything to do.</p><p> Even if you managed to escape, where would you go? No one's waiting for you, you don't exist in this world, you are a more of a nobody now than you were back home.</p><p> You feel a tap on your shoulder as you slowly come down from your anger high, and for a moment you struggle to recognize him through your blurry, definitely not teary, vision. It's G, with a cigarette and a lighter on hand, pushing them towards your face, accompanied by a straight face of hard antipathy.</p><p> You don't scream, you don't throw a tantrum, you simply take them with shaky hands, light it up, and take greedy inhale of it in. You don't exchange words, very much like when you sat next to him, and watch the hazy starry sky, listen to the wind rattle the treetops as your system, your brain and lungs, are filled with overwhelming calmness.</p><p> You exhale the weirdly colored smoke through your mouth and nose with a grateful sigh.</p><p>"yeah, me too."</p><p> There are other ways to escape this shithole without actually leaving, anyways.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Meet Your Edgy 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The end of the trilogy.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Okay so originally Meet Your Edgy didn't have a third part, I was going to leave it in suspense because I got lazy. But YA'LL, every single one of your analysis inspired me to write this final part. It's a week of work, so it might look rushed, but believe when I said that some of you nailed it with Reader's personality and way of thinking.</p><p>Thanks for the support, and enjoy the end for our edgy Reader!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> The next few days went by on a blur.</p><p> The amount of arguments and fights reduced significantly after that night, from physical and verbal to just heated, yet dispassionate glares. Everyone awkwardly went back to their routines and left everything as it was, the current situation having brought such stress that was best to ignore altogether. It was cowardly, but unfairly effective.</p><p> You resumed adopting a more passive lifestyle, staying in your room watching tv, occasionally stealing food or hanging out in the forest near the mansion. Anything was better than being inside with monsters that gave you nothing but the insisting pressure of anxiety whenever you were near them. Anything was better than looking over your shoulder constantly in fear of being attacked. Most of them minded their own business, others snuck nasty looks your way, and the enthusiastic ones were still trying to befriend you.</p><p> Then there was Miss.</p><p> You hadn’t talked to Miss either for a while…sometimes, when you retrieved dinner from the kitchen, you thought you saw her eyeing you, but she never maintained eye contact for long, never approached. The look in her eyes when you <em>did</em> catch her staring was…indescribable, and you’re disappointed you’re able to recognize some guilt on her face.</p><p> She might’ve wanted to apologize, but even if she gathered the guts to do it, you wouldn’t forgive her. It was petty and childish, but holding a grudge against someone has helped you keep going before.</p><p> Even worse, the less sensible part of you <em>wanted</em> her to come close to you, wanted her to try and talk things out so you’d have the excuse to hurt her, punch her square in the face. Because Miss, for a human that preached you were making things more tense than necessary, did nothing to assure you of your safety in the mansion, that guarantee was only for her monster followers and that kind of hypocrisy would’ve earned her a back-alley beating.</p><p> But you didn’t want to fight anymore, didn’t have the energy to even raise your voice.</p><p> Sure, you are still pissed as fuck; for the longest time you had thought that if maybe you were loud enough, if you were demanding enough, if maybe you were threatening enough, things would’ve sped up. Maybe if you made yourself enough of a nuisance, or if you imposed yourself more, tried to take over from the start, they would’ve wanted to get you home quicker.</p><p>  That wasn’t the case, nothing you did would help you get back to your own universe any time soon.</p><p> And with the fact that going back was near impossible now, fighting and screaming seemed so feeble now, a waste of breath and energy; not to mention the house leaders would punish your behavior with more extra days to your “testing time”.</p><p> Thankfully, two weeks later, “Classic” Vanilla and the rest of the household gave you the green light, a flip phone, 50 dollars in cash, along a very passionate warning, and you were free to go.</p><p>Of course, you would’ve taken off without as much as a second thought, with no knowledge of the city’s crime rating or even the landscape of it, would’ve ran for the hills and then disappear from the face of the Earth. That itself was much better than staying with the monsters.</p><p> You would’ve, if it wasn’t for the tiny little detail that came included.</p><p> One of them had to go with you.</p><p> You were seriously starting to question this probation nonsense Vanilla was putting you through. It was blatantly obvious he had an issue with humans he didn’t trust (or just every human that wasn’t Miss), and it certainly didn’t help that everyone else was on board with him, providing a place to fall back on. Miss hadn’t been particularly verbal during the reunion, but she didn’t have to. You were always at disadvantage, so when it came down to choosing a skeleton to be your <em>babysitter</em>, it was hard to narrow it down.</p><p> Firstly, there weren’t many volunteers to begin with, most of them were the Papyri kind and… to say you didn’t get along with any of them was an understatement. They’re exceptionally good at getting on your nerves and they say dumb shit whenever they could- reprimanded you for using too much “foul language”, too. Captain, Vanilla’s brother, had enthusiastically raised his hand, so did Berry, Stretch’s brother, but after a disapproving glare from you and weak excuses from their brothers, they stood defeated.</p><p> At some point even Edge, or Mr. Drama Queen, even offered for the sake of keeping you out of trouble.</p><p> That had almost worked, until you told him to fuck off and nearly threw hands with Red.</p><p>G decided to go ahead and help you, and while you were not happy about it, the lingering worry calmed down a little. Both of you couldn’t be considered friends, but ever since he gave you that little cigarette on the porch you had some sort of trade going on. He snuck you treats you normally couldn’t get on your own, and in return you supposed he expected you to give him a part of your weekly allowance. Your stingy self was not pleased but there wasn’t much you could do with that kind of money, unless you saved up enough to do a small escapade.</p><p> You know you wouldn’t get far anyways, so again, not much to lose.</p><p> That brings you to the present time, where you’re questioning your earlier gratitude towards G’s offer to supervise you, staring apprehensively at the slick, black motorcycle being revved in front of the garage.</p><p>“I’m ain’t getting on that.” You say with a scrunched up nose, watching as the scarred skeleton put his boot down on the ground in evident frustration, eye sockets narrowed and smile taunting.</p><p>“then what do you suggest we do? dunno if you noticed, but it’s a long way down the mountain and i’m not planning on working in local tourism.”</p><p> It’s true, one of the reasons you’d been caught escaping was because you didn’t want to run and exhaust yourself, and it was clear there were a few dozen kilometers between the mansion and the city. Walking down there for a couple of hours and then walking uphill again isn’t appealing at all.</p><p> But neither was holding onto the back of a bony, strange, and possibly dangerous skeleton who’d done nothing more to prove himself other than giving you bribery, “Can’t you just, I dunno, borrow a car and jus’ go with that?”</p><p> He seems to consider it for a moment, glancing back at the garage. directly at a pastel yellow Volky parked inside. “i’m sure y/n won’t mind if we borrow her car for a while, but you’re gonna miss a hella ride on this baby.”</p><p> You roll your eyes and make a vague gesture with your wrist to get him going, “Only gonna miss certain death if I do ride it, really. Now hurry up, you’re burnin’ my daylight.”</p><p> He snorts, but complies in the form of pushing his motorcycle back inside with a resigned sigh. Satisfied, you wait a little longer, patting yourself down for a fifth time to make sure you had everything you needed. All was still there, from your wad of cash, to the cheesy flip phone and the small kitchen knife you stole recently. You couldn’t go outside without anything to defend yourself with, after all.</p><p> One thing was being inside the mansion with monsters you didn’t trust, another was being outside with monsters <em>and</em> humans you didn’t know. It’s better to be safe than sorry.</p><p> G slowly drives out the promised vehicle, and you almost smile at how the soft yellow color ridiculously makes his single eye light pop through the windshield. Hurrying up, you climb inside behind G, receiving nothing further than a curiously quirked brow and a leisure shrug, but you willfully ignore it in order to bathe in the sensation of freedom.</p><p> Partial freedom, but it was better than nothing.</p><p>“okay boss, where are we headed?” The skeleton asks, making brief eye contact with you through the mirror.</p><p>“Do you know any cheap stores I can get clothes from?”, you don’t like the ones Miss had lend you, all those yoga pants and crop tops and bright colors did not fit you and you’re afraid they’re giving Captain and Berry the idea that you want to exercise with them, “Preferably in black.”</p><p> He hums, “i know a few places, do you want to get lunch after?”</p><p>“Oh fuck yes, if I don’t get my hands on the greasiest, most chemically altered food ever I will murder you myself.” Your threat is empty and G knows it, that’s why it’s easy for him to chuckle it off.</p><p> Half an hour later, you’ve breached the outskirts of the city and you’re parking outside a small mall squished between two bigger buildings, and you roll out the car with a grateful groan. After weeks of walking on carpet and dirt, feeling tar under your shoes was strangely refreshing.  </p><p>“aight kid, stick to me, you don’t want the public humiliation of being called through the speakers, trust me.”</p><p>“You sound like you speak from experience.” You taunt haughtily, but get no annoyed response from him.</p><p>“vanilla tended to freak a lot when we didn’t appear on call.” He mutters, stepping inside the sliding doors before you, a wash of cool air welcoming you, “a lil excessive, but it worked on red, he never “got lost” again.”</p><p> “Sounds like Vanilla has a controlling streak to me.”</p><p>“it gets better after a while.”</p><p> In your case, being human, you doubted there would be any changes. You’re self-aware enough that you know your violent tendencies create a rather distrustful tension in your relationships- hell, even back in your universe, you had no fucking chill. It wasn’t something you could afford.</p><p> You stray away from G as soon as you spot a dark section of clothes, immediately sorting through the sweaters and jeans. The distance didn’t last long before your sitter was forced to come join you while you decided what was more fit to you. They’re not high quality, and they’re most likely going to lose color after the first wash, but in the end you’re only going to spend 26 of your 50 dollars, so was a pretty good deal.</p><p> You went with a black hoodie, a red muscle top, black and white striped sweat pants, some undergarments, a couple of jeans and a pair of flip flops. You would have to see how you could decorate them with little more style later.</p><p>“damn, if ya were just gonna pic black and red, you should’ve stolen red’s clothes.” G muses as you carry your new belongings to the cashier.</p><p> At his words, you make a disgruntled, scandalized noise.</p><p>“That’s fuckin’ gross, have you seen how much he sweats? I bet even <em>after</em> washing his clothes are rancid.” You don’t thank the cashier when she hands you the receipt, but she doesn’t look like she cares. “Besides, he’s too tiny, I’m not interested in his gnome clothes.”</p><p> G doesn’t bother covering up his laugh, guiding you back to the car, watching as you climbed in the back again, resting his forearm on the roof, “if you’re done shopping, wanna head down to a local? great food and drinks, more than i could get ya. we all know the bar owner and we can get a discount.”</p><p>“Is it a monster local?”</p><p>“more or less, it’s more of a monster/human friendly thing, everyone’s welcome and nobody starts shit.”</p><p> You’re unconvinced, throwing G a very irritated look. He shrugs with one arm, smile easy, sockets hooded.</p><p> “you’re gonna have to get acquainted with the fact that going to a human-only restaurant with a monster <em>following</em> ya is unrealistic, reader.”</p><p>  Begrudgingly, you concede, “Okay, but if it’s too expensive, you pay.”</p><p>  With a victorious grin, the skeleton hops to the driver seat.</p><p> The ride to the actual place takes another half hour; mainly because it’s so far in the center of the city and the traffic is a <em>nightmare</em>. You pass the time listening to a rock ballad station on the radio and watching people, monsters and humans alike, walk by. They definitely did not look like the crowds at your universe; the usage of colors was diverse and, well, colorful, whereas at home everyone wore black, red, and if they felt bold enough, purple or pink.</p><p> An intimidating color scheme was important to cause a good first impression, and you had obviously not been privy to this fact.</p><p> However, seeing everyone else ignore this rule, just displaying themselves openly, <em>vulnerably</em>, makes you wonder if they were trying to express something else.</p><p> It’s not long before G pulls over in front of a rusty orange, little dinner on the side of the street after a car conveniently moves out, a turned-off glowing sign with “GRILLBY’S” written in cursive raised proudly on the roof. You get out, flicking your hood over your head and ducking, avoiding making eye contact with anyone.</p><p>Vanilla had warned you about people recognizing you as similar to Miss, so he asked (ordered) you to keep a low profile. Considering G said everyone knew the owner of this place, it would be safe to assume they knew Miss too.</p><p> Now, you aren’t about to start respecting his wishes, but if that kept people from making too many questions, if that meant you could go wherever, then you really didn’t have much of a choice.</p><p> G keeps close to you, not enough to touch, but enough to shield you from prying eyes as you both make way inside, and you immediately notice how there’s not many monster or humans to begin with.</p><p>“I thought you said it was monster/human friendly, but there ain’t much friendliness here to me.” You whisper under the low, soothing sound of jazz music..</p><p>“it’s usually more popular as a brunch spot, and at night. not to mention it’s a weekday, people are busier.” He replies as he sits on a stool near the bar, making hand gestures at the fire elemental monster behind the counter, “hey grillby! a couple o’ burgers here, and, uh…”</p><p>“A beer, or two. Definitely more.”</p><p>“it’s 2:43 pm??”</p><p>“And I’m thirsty as fuck too.”</p><p> G sighs, but nods at Grillby with a defeated expression. You are offended.</p><p> Said monster stares blankly at G for a few seconds, various cracks and pops coming from them before they…lock “eyes” with you?? The glare of the light on their glasses was too strong to make out any facial expressions. You scowl at them, nonetheless.</p><p>“this is reader, they’re y/ns’s aunt’s son’s twice removed cousin.” The lie is so ridiculous but so smoothly spoken that it leaves you speechless, unable to refute. Grillby, the apparent owner of the dinner, makes a so-and-so gesture with his hand, and you shamelessly watch in fascination how the flames curl with each movement.</p><p>“they’re moving here in a few months and they’re staying with us until they can find a place they like, no biggie.” Another lie, and you’re almost impressed…<em>almost</em>. All you can do is watch in horror as Grillby nods twice, before he disappears behind a service door leading to the kitchen.</p><p> You take the seat next to your skeleton babysitter, and idly look over the menu displayed in the screen in front of the bar, “Miss’s aunt’s son’s twice removed cousin? Really?”</p><p>“you’re embarrassing to hang out with, we’re square.”</p><p>“We’re not hanging out, you’re just here to make sure I don’t do anythin’ stupid.” You grunt, annoyed, “ I think I’ve seen him before back at my universe. He owned a small night bar, very popular with humans, but very restricted.”</p><p>“grillb’s main focus has always been food and letting people enjoy it. plus, humans here really like the effects monster food leave on them, it’d be a shame to leave all that willing clientele for muffet.”</p><p>“Another monster-owned store?”</p><p>“yup, she makes the best pastries, though they’re pricey as hell. that’s why it’s good places like these exist, to keep the competition.” G seems easy enough to talk to, willing to answer questions when you weren’t being a complete asshole. You don’t trust him to not tell Vanilla whatever happened today, but at least he could be a source of information.</p><p>“You know a lot about this place, can you tell me more about this universe?”</p><p> He throws you a side glance with his single, yellow light, and for a second you think he’s going to brush you off, but then, “what, is human internet not cutting it for you? if you really wanna know, you should ask classic, or y/n, they’re from here, after all.”</p><p> He’s very keen, you’ll give him that. G has an underlying feeling of cold intelligence that he manages to squish down with a smirk and a wave of a hand. People like that…smart people are not ideal to underestimate.</p><p>“The internet doesn’t tell me what I need to know. I can’t just look up “how do monsters interact with humans” or “have monsters committed hate crimes” and expect it to give me the answers I want.” You snort, mouth tensing with an unamused deadpan. “Can’t search “how to look normal” without finding an article meant for edgy children either.”</p><p> You hate that you can see the way his smile hitches higher at your complaint.</p><p>“alright, fair enough, guess i can give ya lil crash course on normal 101.” G turns his body to you completely, guaranteeing your full attention. “from what i’ve heard, there were huge protests against monsters back when they emerged, humans killing monsters, monsters fleein’ underground, etc.”</p><p>“the king and the former queen paid a shit ton of gold to the government for an entire section of the city, a pretty banged up place. they prettied it up, slapped a name on it, created boarders so unauthorized humans couldn’t snoop in.”</p><p> “And?”</p><p>“and? after a couple of months scientists started getting curious on monster technology, which opened a good opportunity for negotiations. laws were made, human minorities sympathized with monsters, pro-monster organizations came to be. this took like…at least five to six years.”</p><p> You blink at him quizzically, “How are humans handling monsters now?”</p><p> From the corner of your eye, you see this Grillby entering to the bar with a big tray of food.</p><p>“better, not perfect, there are a lotta closeted speciests out there, but at least they get theirs if they try to be assholes in public. if ya want to look normal, educate yourself , try understanding why some subjects are sensitive to people, and avoid them.” G stops his little spiel to gingerly receive his order, passing down yours and proceeding to drown his fries in ketchup.</p><p> “thanks man, been talking good things about your food to reader, guaranteed ya a new fan.”</p><p>“You did not.”</p><p>“let me have this one.”</p><p> Grillby makes a slow sound akin to hiss, shoulders bouncing before he went back to polishing his shot glasses. You could only assume he was laughing by the way G’s grin returned and how he shook his skull. While you’re eating, he puts down his burger and rests his elbow on the counter, picking on his fries again while you finish your first beer.</p><p>“tell me about your universe…how are things over there?”</p><p> You throw him a look that he quickly reflects with a bargain, “i know, i know, you’re a lone wolf, you don’t trust me, yadda yadda yadda. but, seeing that i trusted ya with a bit of information, it wouldn’t hurt to open up a bit.”</p><p> This guy really wasn’t going to leave you alone until you told him something, was he? You could already see in the not so distant future the amount of times G was going to escort you everywhere, asking about your home.</p><p> He was going to spend a lot of time with you, so you might as well get this out of the way so he hopefully leaves you be.</p><p>“Fine, I’ll tell you, but if this gets out, and I will find out if it does, I’m gonna stick my foot down your throat.” You threaten, squinting your eyes warningly at G’s light, before nursing on your drink for a second.</p><p>“my metaphorical lips are sealed, i pinky promise, cross my heart hope to die.”</p><p> You roll your eyes, but start narrating, anyways, “You prolly know this already, but my universe is pretty shitty compared to this one- it’s home, but it ain’t perfect. A lot of historical changes were led by mass genocide and raids to power, back in the day it was really hard to change people’s minds if they suspected there was injustice.”</p><p>“sounds like that made things hard for your politicians?”</p><p>“Yeah, but at least we had some order. When monsters came down the Ebott inactive volcano…that’s when shit met the fan. They barged into the city and started a riot, in the morning there were as many people dead as monsters dusted.” You take a sip from your beer, “Everyone thought it was the start of a war.”</p><p> G interrupts with a distant, disconcerted noise, pushing your bottle down and stopping you from drinking again for a moment, “they didn’t have a human representative with them to dialogue? for most of us, uh, “sanses”, there’s a kid named frisk…or chara that frees monsters from underground and becomes our ambassador.”</p><p> You snort, “They had a human alright, a cute 12 year old that didn’t know anything about politics or negotiations. It was sad, y’know? They got torn apart in a debate on national TV, heard they got therapy and everything.”</p><p> You finish your first beer, and after popping the second one, you continue.</p><p>“After a couple’a laws were made, monsters moved in wherever they could, they got some rights, restrictions, the usual. Shit was fine until the murders started, random hookers, homeless people and drunktards disappearing and ending up found dead in the park or just in the middle of the street.”</p><p> A pleasant buzz of alcohol was staring to hum in your head, beer turning bitter, but you don’t stop taking swings from it. The next few gulps are heavy and slow.</p><p>“Buddy, lemme tell you, it stopped being funny when kids started going missing.”</p><p> Silence.</p><p> You finish the bottle at once, you start a third one.</p><p>“how’d you know it was monsters and not just humans taking the chance to be shitty?” G asks, right before stuffing his face with a mouthful of fries, causing you to humorlessly grin at the counter.</p><p>“Magic residue, usually left in the form of a sparkly dust. They weren’t killing humans with magic attacks, but we trained dogs to identify monster dust.”</p><p> Long sip, quick gulp, and it goes down heavy.</p><p>“I’m not gonna trust monsters, it’s just not happening. I don’t care if this universe is a haven of angel-monsters, I don’t care if I’m being unreasonable or ignorant, you can’t honestly look me in the eye and tell me monsters aren’t capable of evil.” You notice how G isn’t commenting anymore, and give him a moment to organize his thoughts. He speaks in a hushed, lowered tone, like he’s trying to keep a secret.</p><p>“no, i can’t.”</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> You threw up on the way up the mountain, back to the mansion.</p><p> Alcohol and motion sickness didn’t get along well, but thankfully G had been kind enough to stop in time for you to discharge your stomach contents out the window. A waste of perfectly good food, although you didn’t regret a thing; getting drunk after being open and emotional was like massaging a sore muscle.</p><p> You would’ve liked to puke inside the car and leave it as putrid as possible.</p><p> After parking inside the garage, G helps you stumble inside with an arm around his shoulder and the other holding the bag with your new clothes. The stairs proved to be the most challenging part of the house, poor skeleton tripped enough times to almost drop to his face, but at least nobody bothered you on the way up.</p><p> Fumbling with the doorknob was your responsibility, and once you got it to open, G doesn’t stop and chucks you to bed, making you squeak an undignified cuss, before letting out a sigh of relief, the sound of bones popping faintly echoing in the room.</p><p>“welp, it’s been fun.”</p><p>“It wassent, ya got me drunk.”</p><p> He snorts, and haphazardly throws the comforter over your head, “you got yourself drunk, now get yourself some sleep. monster beer is the least strong of alcohol, but it’s better safe than sorry.”</p><p>“Aight.” You don’t see him on the door, ready to leave.</p><p>“g’night.”</p><p>“Bye.”</p><p> The sound of the lock clicking in place reassures you that nothing has changed, and even through a hazy head and blurred eyes, closing with exhaustion and satisfaction for the day, you know the necessary closure is never going to come. If there was a possibility that you could somehow gather the money to move out, if there was a chance you could convince Vanilla you were capable, then you’d take it. If you had to live here with people you didn’t get along with, then you’d do it.</p><p> And you’re strangely okay with that.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This chapter was a little extra lengthy than I had anticipated!</p><p>Up Next- Meet Your Serial Killer 1</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Meet Your Serial Killer</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Now where did all those bad Sanses go?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> Your hands scratch around your waist naturally these days, down to your hips and legs until you can reach the inside of your boot. Cold fingers work into them, searching, and retreat unhelpfully once you remember there’s nothing in them, no knife between the sock and skin. You have no choice but to use what the other was offering you.</p><p> Your opponent sits in front of you across the table, grin convening danger and challenge simultaneously, along a whole lot of wickedness. A knife of his own twirls on the wooden surface, craving out tiny shavings of it, proving it’s as sharp as his smile. Similar holes cover the surface from many other sharp weapons, like the table was made for this exact purpose.</p><p> He wants to see you hurt, he wants to see your reaction, and he wants you see your pain, you know as much.</p><p> But as much as you’d love to oblige him, which isn’t a lot, you don’t plan losing anything today, or ever. You’ll use this opportunity to teach everyone in this damned house just show capable you are, just how similar you are them, see their faces when they realize how endangered they’ve been while drunk in their own smugness.</p><p> You don’t plan losing anything today.</p><p> Including your dignity and limbs.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> It started when you were in preschool, kindergarten if you wonder far enough. Your parents were very reserved people that rarely got visits from anyone outside immediate family, much less from any of the younger members. You were an only child and didn’t get proper interaction with kids your age until you stepped foot in a classroom.</p><p> This doesn’t mean your parents were entirely bad- they tried their best and were affectionate enough with you, but for some unexplainable reason it never seemed to reach you. Looking back on it you think they should’ve gotten you a doctor instead of pegging your behavior on just being a child. There’s nothing to do about it now, though, if you went to therapy at your age and told the doctors what you’ve done, what you’ve felt, you’d go to jail in a snap.</p><p> You stomped on ants, and eventually started burning them with a magnifying glass, went from kicking beetles to salting snails and then bigger, louder animals.</p><p> It never truly brought you any satisfaction seeing animals die back then, and even now you feel a little remorse hurting things that were just trying to survive. Most of your actions were out of pure boredom and the unhealthy way you took to cope with your lack of satisfaction towards anything you tried to do, looking for something that would fill your head with anything other than constant anxiety and anger and apathy.</p><p> When you turned 13, you stabbed a girl on the hand with a pencil after a heated discussion about how cold you behaved, and that’s when you knew that you didn’t want to hurt anything or anyone more than you wanted to hurt people. You got suspended, later expelled, as you continued to exhibit alarming interest in seeing people hurt. You tripped people on stairs, held their heads down on the restrooms toilets, as each time brought you closer and closer to an adrenaline addiction.</p><p> Once you ended up in juvenile prison and gotten out after a few days thanks to the lack of proof, you were ready for the real deal.</p><p> You had a body count of 11 by the time you graduated from high school, but you weren’t a complete monster either. While most of your victims were mere bystanders, homeless people and the scum of the earth that roamed in bars at 3 in the morning, you also took out many people that did worse than you. Not only the rush of adrenaline is addictive, but so is killing itself; it’s the only thing that really got you going and every time you’re done disposing of any incriminatory evidence, you want to do it over, and over again.</p><p> There’s no way you can explain it, at that point you <em>didn’t</em> want to understand what was wrong with you. Telling yourself “<em>it’s just the way you are</em>” is such a formidably easy excuse to believe in that you willingly follow through it.</p><p> You were very aware you’re not the only one out there with those urges, and it just got all the better when monsters got up the surface. They left nothing behind but dust and a bigger feeling of giddiness than killing humans, much more entertaining after hearing their last words calling for their loved ones, and unfinished sentences made you want to do it again with fanatic urgency. People were rioting, protesting, “incidents” happened every day and it provided the perfect cover for you to work on while blaming it on the scared people.</p><p> You felt stronger.</p><p> The local news turned into you favorite program.</p><p>“Ebott Serial Killer kills monsters in Newest Home.”</p><p>It brought a little sense to your life.</p><p> One night, stormy and unpleasantly humid, you heard a loud noise coming from your kitchen and immediately went to investigate, sliding a knife from under your pillow and stalking outside the bedroom. Checked and locked every single room along the way, raising your weapon above your shoulder and snapping your body into action- you silently lunged yourself at the intruder and-</p><p> It was Milky Way, your cat, who knocked over her feeder. When she saw you, the hairs of her back stood on end before she hissed and ran off; making you snort humorlessly and lower the knife with no immediate danger on sight.</p><p>“You dumb cat.”</p><p> As soon as those words left you, the world was violently tipped from being 11 pm to “I haven’t slept in 4 days and I’m sure someone just punched me in the gut”, your body being pulled back by an invisible force of gravity, feet gliding across the carpet- and the next thing you felt is your body rolling on cement and hitting an equally hard wall. There were exclamations of alarm and angered shouts, people manhandling your bruised body to lay down on a couch.</p><p> Then you suddenly had your hands cuffed behind your back, sitting in a chair surrounded by skeleton monsters glaring at you like you’d pissed in their cereal and a human girl having some sort values turmoil. Your shock for how similar she was to you physically lasted as long as your little secret did.</p><p> It wasn’t able to stay hidden much when you were surrounded by judgmental people, Checking all over your business, something that monsters in your universe were never allowed to in public, considering how big of a privacy breach that was.</p><p> By the look on their faces, at least few of them must’ve hated humans for whatever reason- or maybe they just hated murderers in general. While this didn’t work on your favor along your high LV, you knew they wouldn’t do what they had to: They wouldn’t kill you, because that girl was the center of their universe and also happened to be a coward regarding those things.</p><p>“Millions of people will be frozen in time forever if we do it.”</p><p>“we can’t just let ‘em run around free, they could hurt somebody- shit, haven’t you seen the look on their face? they <em>are</em> going to hurt somebody!”</p><p>“classic, she’s right, it’s not worth the exp- it’s not worth changing who you are.”</p><p>“jus’ lemme do it, i got exp, a few o’ th’ othas do too.”</p><p>“Red, don’t-“</p><p>“i have an idea, you’re not gonna like it, angel, but it might just be what they deserve.”</p><p> The girl that was with them, her name being your own, she told you they were going to take you somewhere else far from the mansion and the city, away from them. She said something about moving in with other people that wouldn’t hurt you, but also wouldn’t let you hurt them, for the good of everyone- including your own.</p><p>“I’m so sorry, but we can’t have you live with us- they- we know about what you’ve done in your timeline, this is for the best. You have the mansion’s number so you can call when you’ve changed your mind…or if you need help.”</p><p> You could’ve laughed, more than a little displeased with the whole situation of being stuck in a place where no one knew who the Ebbot Serial Killer was.</p><p> They gave you a few changes of clothes, a toothbrush, hairbrush, a couple of sanitary necessities, and nothing but your fists to defend yourself with before they brought you deep into the woods behind the mansion, used some sort of teleportation magic to leave you in front of another house, and left just as quick. Like a lamb thrown into the lion’s den, or a convict entering their final checkup.</p><p> You felt it faster than you saw it; the overwhelming danger rolling off the structure like an electric charge up your back, raising the hairs of your neck and arms, and all at once what that girl said made sense.</p><p> They didn’t bring you there to keep themselves safe, they brought you there to give you a chance to <em>live or die</em> by your own hands. They quite literally put you with the rest of the bad seeds, off to fend for yourself weaponless.</p><p>When the door was opened, various sets of eyes zoomed right into you, accompanied by a chorus of snorts and growls. It was warm and dry inside, mostly candle-lit and the aroma of a cooked meal in the background, deceitfully peaceful for something that was meant to test your skills, to <em>kill</em> you.</p><p> It took you a moment to realize that everyone inside was a monster, too.</p><p> The skeleton who answered the door approached, which wasn’t novelty at that point, but he was a little extra than the others, different. Bones covered head to toe in an oily, black substance that faintly glowed cyan on the edges, and tentacle-like appendages curling behind his back like cat tails twisting with interest. While the right eye socket was covered by that mysterious sludge, the left one was alight with a bright, cold, calculating, and ready to plan a strategy, blue eye. However, the most cutting thing on him was his smile; stretched out wide and showing off those pearly whites in stark contrast with the rest of him, pleased and leering, and it was like seeing an old friend again.</p><p>
  <strong>“So you’re the human that treated me so well with the other’s anger and fear.”</strong>
</p><p> You instantly wanted to be closer to him, feeling the constant boredom, the insisting anger and anxiety crumbling away at his presence, leaving behind a pleasant buzz emptiness that vanished too from the back of your mind. His voice was deep, but not raspy or quiet, just royal and full of authority, joined by a teasing edge of happy malice.</p><p>“I want the room next to yours.” You demanded softly, clutching your new belongings like an offer of peace to the rest of the group. The creature simply smiled unkindly and jerked his skull over his shoulder, another monsters coming instantly to his side, obsidian black sockets expressionless his face and red target floating over his chest as he took over your borrowed stuff.</p><p> Stars, you wanted that so badly, you wanted whatever he was feeling.</p><p>“Where do I put them, boss?” He asked, not taking his lack of lights off you…or your general direction.</p><p><strong>“In the furthest room from my own, with Cross, it’s about time he got a bunker buddy.”</strong>, he ordered, looking at you as well, laid bare for all your scrutiny, and you controlled the little disappointment you felt at the revelation, <strong>“I know what you want, but you’re going to work for it, human, just like every other monster in this house.”</strong></p><p> You watched as the empty monster rushed along a long, dimly lit hallway until the sound of a door opening met your ears. Yet your attention was solely taken away by this creature, like a black hole sucking everything you wanted to build yourself to be, everything you wanted to destroy yourself for.</p><p>“What’s your name?”</p><p> You don’t call this moment love, you don’t have it in you to love anything with enough knowledge to hurt you, but there was definitely something going on there, a pull that drew you to this being, and you knew everyone else there was <em>there</em> for it too. Much more than just being a danger for the neurotypicals, more than being cast aside for other’s safety, there was comfort knowing your urges could be controlled by someone who was <em>made</em> of them.</p><p><strong>“Nightmare, but you shall address me as boss,” </strong>the way he tilted his head to the side was maddening, innocent in a very wrong way, <strong>“There’s no need to tell me yours as it’s irrelevant, but since you’re going to be here for a long while, you might want to start thinking about a new one. This world already has enough of you.”</strong></p><p> You couldn’t stop looking at him, and by the way his smile tilted, he knew.</p><p>“Who’s Cross?”</p><p><strong>“Dinner is served at 6, either you’re there to eat or eat nothing, we don’t leave leftovers so be punctual.” </strong>he didn’t answer your question, but you figured he didn’t have to. You’d be roommates soon; you would have plenty of time to know who these outcasts were, more ways than one, <strong>“Understood?”</strong></p><p> You thought about how the shudder crawling up your spine wasn’t from fear, not even from the bossy way Nightmare asked that question- but from the unbridled, unadulterated glee wrecking your form. You thought you saw him shudder, a flash of disgust on his face forcing you to smooth down your emotions.</p><p> But you were excited, you were so happy you were going to throw up, because finally you found something that would never bore you again.</p><p>“Sure thing, boss.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Meet Your Serial Killer 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Getting around the new digs and meeting your roommates through dinner!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> You silently followed your new idol’s servant to you new room, his back to you, unbothered and less than cautious. Once you arrived, you scanned it with detached curiosity, making note of whomever this Cross was, they had made the room theirs with pictures, posters, and a long alignment of knives in display boxes. There wasn’t a lot of personality in the room, although the last bit confuses you to no end- and with reason.</p><p> Who the hell puts knives on display boxes? Just sitting there, useless and aging?</p><p> You didn’t feel particularly guilty about taking up their space, but you would be pretty pissed if a stranger started messing with your shit, which you would avoid doing.</p><p> However, you couldn’t say the same for the mess of clothes sprawled across the floor, an assortment of black and white pieces that would make any monochromatic fan blush. Those would <em>have</em> to go; you refused to live in those conditions with anyone no matter the situation, seeing that every day was going to give you headache.</p><p> The room was very plain by itself, the promised bunker bed was naked on the top, a simple desk basically empty save for a few stray papers and clothes, a large closet, a night table, and window facing towards the forest. If you looked far enough, the mass of trees and vegetation made enough shadows to make a void off nature.</p><p> You started to pick up clothes from the floor, rolling them to a corner while Bull’s Eye watched you just as quietly.</p><p>“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, he gets upset when his system is messed with.” He said unconcernedly, following you with void sockets as you shrugged, kicking the large pile one final time.</p><p>“My system is getting upset with his system, and besides, this isn’t just his room anymore.”</p><p> He shrugged, hands bunched in his pockets.</p><p>“Alright, have anything you’d like to report?”</p><p> You made a face, facing your body towards him before side-stepping his frame to start reorganizing the stuff he’d leisurely dropped on the floor, “I only have the stuff they gave me to live here, no guns or swords or whatever you think might be dangerous.”</p><p>“Hard to believe you with that kind of Level. Should the boss be concerned?”</p><p>“Unless he’s afraid of toothpaste, no.”</p><p> The skeleton hummed thoughtfully, watching you move out your new clothes from the bag to the empty drawer, “Understood.”</p><p>“They also took my kitchen knife, can you get it back?”, You asked quickly as you felt the conversation begin to fade, still wanting something out of being forced to live in the middle of nowhere with strange monsters.</p><p>“If they took it, it’s most likely gone now, or under key. Don’t get your hopes up.”</p><p> You didn’t.</p><p>“Think I can get another one?” You continued, hands itching to hold anything potentially dangerous to defend yourself with, “From the kitchen, or wherever you guys keep your weapons?”</p><p> Bulls Eye’s smile hitched higher from both sides of his face, furrowing a bony brow as if considering your question with mock seriousness, “Sure, ‘course we’ll give the only human in the house with and LV above 20 a weapon they could use on us. Yep, I see that happening right now, boss will agree completely.”</p><p> The time it took you to register that as pure sarcasm was almost offending, but you did recognize the rationality in his words. Like with the other group, you had to earn their trust before asking for any privileges.</p><p> Besides, not having a knife wasn’t the end of the world, there were plenty of other things you could make into knives.</p><p>“Once you’re all settled here I have to show you the rest of the house and the exterior traps as well. Don’t take too long or you’ll make me miss dinner too, got it?”</p><p>“Got it.”</p><p> He shuffled out after watching you settle the bed sheets down, leaving you to arrange what little possessions you owned. Once everything was organized to your satisfaction, you dedicated yourself to tidying up.</p><p> It didn’t take long for another skeleton to barge in like he’d been chased by the devil himself, heavy, hurried footfalls bouncing outside the room before the door was slammed on the wall, breathing heavily and hysterically looking at your claimed space. This one looked like he knew nothing of colors- clad in black and white from head to toe, so it was easy to assume he was the one responsible of the mess. He had a certain air around him, the way he postured was rigid and controlled, almost mechanical…</p><p> Like a soldier.</p><p> Seconds passed with you staring each other down, and when he finally broke eye contact and looked at the rest of the room his face just <em>dropped</em>, plummeted like someone told him his puppy was shot, shoulders sagging in defeat and hands twitching with reflexive irritation.</p><p>“I’m your new roommate.” You commented unhelpfully, startling a little when he abruptly raised his hand to silence you.</p><p>“get out.” He whispered with a paper-thin tone, holding back obvious emotion and barely contained rage.</p><p> So he was really sensitive about who touched his things and where he put them, and it seemed like he was seriously considering beating you within an inch of nirvana by the way his fists clenched and ground out his teeth. If you could actually feel fear, you’d be concerned.</p><p>“Boss told me so I didn’t decide it, and the room was filthy so I cleaned up.”</p><p> When he spoke again, anger and finely restricted hurt was laced to his voice.</p><p>“<em>get out now.</em>”</p><p> And you did, quickly, turning on your heel and exiting the room- but not before your roommate slammed the door behind your ass, forcing you to yelp and stumble forward for a second.</p><p> Rude.</p><p> Bull’s Eye was leaning on the opposite wall of the hallway, leisurely playing with a small object that reflected light through the closest window. He was already looking at you when you did notice him, smile lazy and sockets droopy, bored, yet amused.</p><p> You shrugged, confused, “He doesn’t like his stuff touched.”</p><p>“He’s the sensitive one of the group. If you’re quite done, we have places to be.”</p><p> The empty-eyed skeleton began walking off deeper into the hallway, leaving you to follow behind as Boss had ordered earlier. It was getting late, you had not taken lunch from the main mansion and you weren’t looking forward to finding out how fainting felt now, so missing dinner was out of the question One by one, your tour guide named, showed, and warned you about every other room in the house as quickly as possible, no passion in his explanations. You barely listened anyways, focused on observing the other skeletons on said rooms glaring more daggers at Bull's Eye than yourself for the invasion of privacy.</p><p> When you got to the front door, he stopped you with a single hand to your face, much like Cross had done. Was it a common thing to do there? To rudely cut off people with a graceful bony hand?</p><p>“Ok, I’m gonna show ya some places outside, so do me a solid and don’t try to run away, I’ll catch you eventually. It’s also not in your best interest to get caught on one of Mars' traps, speaking from experience, so the safest place out is the garden.” He said with a firm tone in his words, not waiting for a reply from your part, hand twisting the knob and ushering you out.</p><p> The walk to the back of the house, where the forest was denser, was brief and pleasant. Fresh air really did wonders after being inside with all those candles and little ventilation.</p><p> Eventually you reached the large chunk of land covered in plants, they all looked very healthy and productive, and you didn’t know why that brought you satisfaction.</p><p>“Garden. We also have an orchard further back you can pick from, but not too much.” he warned, “Also made that mistake.”</p><p> He guided you further away from the house until you noticed he was starting to act more alert, rolling his shoulders and skull as if stretching out to sprint.</p><p>“This is where you can’t pass from, there’re traps all over for a kilometer radius. It’s worse if you ever try to get out at night- if you fall into a pit, no one would find you until morning.” He explained with a smile that wasn’t all too comforting, picking up a random rock from the ground and tossing it into the foliage. A not very distant, unnatural snap echoed back at you, signaling a <em>very</em> big trap had been set off.</p><p> Needless to say, it would be a very stupid, or desperate, to try and escape through the forest, but your brain rationalized with the fact that you had no reason to escape. You wanted to stay.</p><p> “Understood.”</p><p> You didn’t feel the need to be particularly vocal with him anymore, and you assumed he thought the same.</p><p>“Awesome, now let’s got back inside, it’s getting cold and dinner is probably done by now.”</p><p> The amount of feeling that simple statement brought to you, a small speck of color, should’ve upset you; however, you used that energy to speed-walk in front of Bull’s Eye. He made a sound of amusement as you zigzagged your way inside the house with no physical guidance- drawn by the sheer energy of your new Boss.</p><p> Arriving to the dining room barely noticed was marked off as an accomplishment, although there were monsters that’d gotten there first and claimed their places on the table. You wondered where Boss would sit so you could be as close as possible to him, but alas, he wasn’t around yet, and you would have to conform on sitting next to a random skeleton.</p><p>  This one wasn’t as flashy as the others, in fact, he looked pretty normal from the outside. He had his hood dropped over his skull and gazed lowered, so you couldn’t see his face from that angle, but you didn’t have to look at it to know you sat down next to a schizophrenic.</p><p> He had his hands perfectly tuckered on the table, but they were trembling almost imperatively, tremors running along his arms, shoulders lurching with little involuntary jerks. While most of his face was covered, you could catch glimpses of a widely stretched smile, an edge of danger and manic ending with a haughty curl of canine.</p><p> He was exchanging quiet whispers with someone- for a second you though it could’ve been the skeleton next to him- but it turned out that one wasn’t paying attention at all.</p><p> Anyway, there were worse people to be sat down next to, like your new roommate Cross, who’d been silently glaring daggers at you since you’ve gone back inside. You ignored him for now, preferring not to talk with the others until Boss was there.</p><p> Speaking of which, the tar-covered skeleton only made a minimal of a dramatic entrance by just stepping from the hallway, holding a clipboard and furiously scribbling away. Once he sat down on the end of the long table, though, he seemed to…absorb it through his body? One second the clipboard was on his hands, and the other a tentacle grabbed it and it sunk into the sludge?</p><p> What a curious creature.</p><p> Looking at him now, even though the chaos of skeletons sitting down and serving themselves food was loud and raucous, you could appreciate how passive and calm he was. He wasn’t the same grinning, smug skeleton that had greeted you earlier, and you wondered if the entire manic smiling was an attempt to scare you.</p><p> “<strong>Everybody settle down, we have a new member of the house, so have some manners</strong>.” He ordered with a tone of soft familiarity, hands idly resting on top of the table, much like the monster besides you.</p><p>The silence that took over the table was creepily unanimous and coordinated; a strong pause of all movement that had your shoulders tense up in anticipation and eyes narrow in suspicion. Many eyes zeroed onto you, not all of them, but most had the clear reflection of hatred the others at the mansion had given you.</p><p> Yet, no one jumps in to insult you, or attack you, not even judge you, beyond those murder eyes.</p><p>“<strong>I trust you found a suitable name for yourself, unless you prefer being called human</strong>.” Nightmare looked at you expectantly, and your uptight shoulders unwind a little, <strong>“Who are you?”</strong></p><p>“The Ebott Killer”, You responded with hesitance, and shamefully, watch as unhinged laughter circled around the table. There’s an itch in your head that demands you punch at least three of them for their out of line behavior, and it was proving to be challenging to not oblige it.</p><p>“holy stars, kid!”, Bull’s Eye exclaimed unsupportively from across the table.</p><p>“I didn’t pick the name! It was all the news. You can’t expect much from a city that names itself “Newest Home.” This was embarrassing, Boss was right there watching and you were not making a good job of selling yourself.</p><p>“Well ya can’t have Killer for name, that’s happily taken.” Bull’s Eye- apparently now “Killer” elbows the skeleton next to him, another monster looking like he came out straight out of a 90’s cartoonist wet dreams. You don’t need to explain further, watching him exist was painful enough.</p><p>“how ‘bout fleshy, y’know, ‘cause all the skin?” A skeleton you’d seen in one of the bedrooms Killer showed you earlier, you’ll call him Egg Shell, suggested with a dangerous grin, and you succeed in repressing your scowl of disapproval.</p><p>“I don’t have any better suggestions, unless you resort to calling me Ebbot or The.” You sighed, serving yourself a generous amount of pasta with (some kind of) meatballs before passing it to the weirdo next to you.</p><p>“i got it, hairy, fluffy, sunburn-“</p><p>“On second thought, call me Yin.” You interrupted quickly with a pointed look; Egg Shell smiled wider, but didn’t offer further comment.</p><p>You couldn’t see it while looking at the skull-busted skeleton, but somehow, you felt it; Nightmare was okay with it.</p><p>“<strong>Yin it is. Since you’ll be spending time here for the foreseeable future, you might as well learn how most members are named.</strong>” Nightmare made a vague gesture with his wrist, and one by one, each skeleton introduced themselves in their own way.</p><p> In total there were Dust, Killer, Mars (Egg Shell, you’re going to keep calling him that inwardly), Cross, Error, Fresh, and by you new Boss’s words, there were a few who preferred to not be associated with either house, and had moved away a long time ago.</p><p> Now that everyone was a little more at ease, conversation began to bloom on the table, hushed and brief, until everyone was done and passing their leftover plate to Mars, who inhaled said leftovers, unbothered.</p><p> Nightmare had retreated to his “office” long ago, leaving you longing to follow, but unable to by direct orders, so it was you and the others.</p><p> There was a specific sort of tension in the room, even as everyone started to split up to the living room. So far it seemed like Killer was one of the few who didn’t care about having you around, which you…sort of appreciated? He was definitely under Boss’s influence one way or another, and you expected that getting along with him would put you in better terms with Nightmare.</p><p> You were having a short conversation with Killer about the other resident at the main loft, when suddenly, from the couch, you distinctively heard Cross yell out;</p><p>“Game Night!”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Pretty short and hurried, but I really wanted this chapter out asap ;v;"</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Meet Your Sans</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>In which you are the humanized version of Sans, and your bother gets dragged along with you.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I have no excuses, just that I've been writing more gay skeletons :)<br/>This chapter in particular has been on my WIPs for months, so excuse if you seen any inconsistencies with my actual writing style.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As someone who's had plenty of life experience, it's hard to catch you off guard. You're older than your physical body, an old soul as your people say. Though you wouldn’t call yourself wise, if anything, you just learned things the hard way, understanding there are things you can’t control. Maybe you were just apathetic about those things, maybe the future just wasn't worth worrying over. Or maybe you are just a slob, to hell if you know.</p><p> </p><p>Papyrus always says that you need to be active to remain active, and you completely agree with his reasoning, Newton's First Law, and all that. Unfortunately, you possess zero kinetic energy to put the effort into absolutely anything other than getting money and japing people. You’ve never bothered lifting a finger to help your time-damned home, <em>that</em> itself was a whole system that kept itself going…more often than not you were dragged behind it.</p><p> </p><p>You're lucky to have Papyrus as a brother, otherwise, you'd be fired from most of your jobs...more than usual, that is.</p><p> </p><p>You're even luckier that he got dragged into this alternate world with you.</p><p> </p><p>It had been a couple of hard months- could the time spent underground be considered time at all if the same day kept repeating over and over? Either way, the kid was being adamant about reaching Asgore despite how many times they had to LOAD and try again, and it had taken a toll out on you.</p><p> </p><p>Being the only human who could remember those dead timelines meant you were also aware of the lost progress on your project; the machine had been passed down to you from your mentor, a man of great talent in magic and science, forgotten by overlapping timelines. You had dedicated your youngest, incompetent years trying to make it work again, although its purpose was lost to you.</p><p> </p><p>Eventually, an opportunity shows when the monster took a little break after a continuous chain of LOADS, and you took the chance to get back to work. And by work, it means you spent most of the time napping between intervals of reading and studying.</p><p> </p><p>One of those days of arduous labor, you were roused awake by an impatient Papyrus, who came in with snacks for your "glutton sleepy backside" and a change of clothes. He was just telling you something about the possibility of you becoming Undernet famous by just showing people how to sleep for 13 hours straight before the weirdest thing happened, something that took you by surprise.</p><p> </p><p>The machine started to vibrate and hum by itself, throwing off the protective blanket and sparking menacingly by the circuits you had given up on. You stood up quickly to try and turn it off, but as soon as you did, the system started glowing and sucking everything around it in.</p><p> </p><p>It was strong enough to sweep you off your feet immediately, and if weren't for your brother, who grabbed the hood of your jacket and kept you in place, your skull would’ve gotten chummy with the edge of the table. The victory was, however, short-lived when one of the drawers on the desk wiggled out and slammed against Papyrus's back before you could warn him, making him lose his balance, and sending both of you plummeting into the abyss.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>So you're kind of a veteran in this alternate universe, it's been five months since your bro and you arrived at this surface-located house full of skeleton monsters and a single human.</p><p> </p><p>You've had quite some fun, and Papyrus too after seeing the surface for the first time. It left a good feeling in you, eager for a better future. It's not to say you wouldn't want it in your actual alternate universe, but as long as you have your brother, returning home doesn't seem so urgent anymore. He was delighted when meeting his alternate selves, and although you were both not like the rest, he fit right in like a puzzle piece.</p><p> </p><p>It's a plus that everyone in the house, or mansion, seems to have a particular liking towards your bro and yourself, allowing you to have certain privileges like accidental off-handed comments. You can't tell what it is exactly that makes you likable to your alternate selves, but you're getting the general gist that they think you're hilarious.</p><p> </p><p>Without any of your knowledge, you tend to shortcut to Sans’ "Classic" room in your sleep and make yourself comfortable, every other night. Most of the time it ends with a startled skeleton and highly unamused brothers chiding you for invading the privacy of a host, and at Classic for not “sharing” with a guest. You theorized your magic feels more like his room is yours by the similarities between your universes, but that could be debunked by the other Sanses. So in the end you mark it off as your subconscious being secretly a prankster and joke your way out.</p><p> </p><p>Right now, for example, you're being shaken awake rudely by someone rattling the fridge- aka your favorite napping spot. Not very comfortable, but it was close enough to the snacks and you can probably sleep on a cactus anyway.</p><p> </p><p>"hey, ring-a-dee, this ain't no place to sleep. lift ya head, i can't open the fridge." Stretch's nasal, drawling voice demands from the floor, making you crack one eye open and smile leisurely. All of your limbs are sprawled on the tall refrigerator, making it a tad uncomfortable when being awake, but you don't feel like moving.</p><p> </p><p>"Huh? Hon, whattaya mean? I'm part of the fridge, I'm a whole <em>cool</em> snack." You giggle groggily, and Stretch grins too, only that's an impatient smile because it's 9 am and you know that he needs his coffee.</p><p> </p><p>"c'mon, don't be so <em>cold</em> and move, i got work."</p><p> </p><p>"<em>Chill</em> man, I was just <em>hangin'</em> round here", you yawn, but comply afterward, precariously rolling off the fridge, and blipping out of sight to reappear sitting in the bar stool.</p><p> </p><p>As a human with powers living in a house full of monsters with powers, you felt a little left out. In your universe, it's normal for humans to have magic, while monsters don't possess it. You had compared storied with the others, and while everyone had their differences, in your Au humans had lost the legendary war.</p><p> </p><p>This made the old mages spread about to survive in the Underground, and generations after generations, humans bloomed in small families of mages and witches. Meanwhile, upon the surface, monsters developed advanced technology, forgot they once held magic, and only kept enough in their bodies to keep living. However, the monster that descended upon humankind held a power much higher than anything humans or monsters could've imagined.</p><p> </p><p>It made everyone in the mansion feeling unsettled and unsafe, but Papyrus was keeping an enthusiastic face as always. And besides, it wasn’t like you were flaunting your attacks everywhere- that would be exhausting, and Captain, Classic’s brother, had already done that.</p><p> </p><p>Yawning, you blearily watch the tall skeleton moving around making his mug of coffee and serving himself some breakfast the more energetic siblings made earlier, casually stealing a sip from his drink while he is distracted. It isn't long before Sans- Classic, Red, and Ink appear too, being awakened by the louder skeletons in the house. You jerk your head in greeting and receive dual grunts and an excitable hum.</p><p> </p><p>"Mornin', you're up early".</p><p> </p><p>"unwillingly, this house is a fuckin' nightmare.", Red growls unhappily, grabbing a plate and generously staking up waffles, and you mourn their surely unfortunate destiny, "yer brother kept rattlin' my door, vanilla, tell him to lay off or i'm puttin' ‘n exposed wire ‘n the doorknob."</p><p> </p><p>Classic shrugs, hand lazily batting around with gravity magic, "yeah yeah, red, ya aren't the only one. i'll tell him to calm down if ya tell edge to take down the backyard traps".</p><p> </p><p>Red squirts a criminal amount of mustard on his plate, and shoves a spoonful of food to completely avoid talking, glowering, and you laugh at him with Classic.</p><p> </p><p>"Oh, Class, speaking about brothers", you start, throwing your legs over the counter. "'Pyrus and I want to talk about moving".</p><p> </p><p>"moving?", he asks with evident curiosity in his voice, dragging his plate over and atrociously drowning it in ketchup, "to where? and how?"</p><p> </p><p>The other three skeletons had gone quiet, listening to your conversation with subtle interest. You close your eyes and begin to precariously tilt your chair back, hand sliding out of your pocket to make a so-and-so gesture.</p><p> </p><p>"I dunno, 'Pyrus wants to see the world and all that, explore the great outdoors.", you explain, "Maybe the beach, mountains, monuments, all the places designed to torture me."</p><p> </p><p>"don't kid yerself, yer brother 's gonna carry yer ass everywhere.", Red spits out a bit of mustard, but you feel it more than you see it.</p><p> </p><p>"Yeah, and it's going to be exhausting watching of him." You snicker, cracking an eye open.</p><p> </p><p>Sans nods and waves his pointer finger at you, smiling, "but you still need the funds to travel- unless ya plan on shortcuttin' everywhere, which would drain ya faster than you would drain our bank account."</p><p> </p><p>You smile back, "Don't worry about that, we got that covered."</p><p> </p><p>"What if we manage to get the machine fixed?", Ink finally interferes, eyelights flicking in different shapes every time he blinks. You know he’s not helping to fix the machine at all, but you guess he’s got a thing for including himself in things he has no business on, "You should be here when it happens, don't you want to return to your Au?"</p><p> </p><p>"Phones exist, y'know, it wouldn't be the end of the world if we explored a bit, saw stuff we could never do in our own universe. Send an email, text, call me….platonically" you argue back with a wink, watching as Stretch passively sits down on the bar-like counter, "I want 'Pyrus to experience the world before we go back- if we ever do. I want to see the world too, you all know that we deserve to get a glimpse of freedom before y'all send us back underground."</p><p> </p><p>An uncomfortable silence dawns upon the kitchen after your little spiel, and you awkwardly cough into your fist. There’s something about you, being a human, saying that you deserve the freedom that makes everyone inwardly disagree. You don’t exactly judge them for it, but it’s still frustrating and incredibly unfair.</p><p> </p><p>“don’t say it like that.” Classic protests and you’re quick to correct your principal topic of discussion, backpedaling a bit.</p><p> </p><p>“You know that’s not what I meant. You’re not sending us anywhere we’re not used to…eventually, we’re going back home if y’all can fix the machine. I’m just saying it how it is.”</p><p> </p><p>"when are ya leavin'?" Red asks through a mouthful of food and another awkward moment of quietness.</p><p> </p><p>"Next week, tried to make it as quick as possible." Like a band-aid, the fewer time people had to progress the loss, the better.</p><p> </p><p>"okay, make sure ya leave your rooms clean.", Classic says with a tone you can’t exactly pinpoint the meaning of. Maybe is doubt, or perhaps sad acceptance?  No, they don’t have that much of an emotional attachment to you or Papyrus, knowing yourself, <em>you wouldn’t.</em></p><p>
  
</p><p>"Ok."</p><p> </p><p>"and get yourself a haircut."</p><p> </p><p>No, it was apathy.</p><p> </p><p>"Ok, mom."</p><p> </p><p>It wasn’t worth worrying about.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading! Come interrogate me in my tumblr!<br/>https://valeriavionics.tumblr.com/</p></blockquote></div></div>
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